Foster Kittens: Max, Zack, and Roxie

Zack and Roxie Falling Asleep on the Cat Tree

Max, Zack, and Roxie arrived at our home swarming with parasites–fleas, tapeworms, and who knows what else. This a happy, easy going little trio submitted cheerfully to all the procedures required to rid them of their unwanted guests, including being forced to swallow worming pills and combed for fleas.

Foster Kitten Max

Kittens should be kept in a small space when they first arrive to ensure good litter box habits, reduce the stress of moving to a new home, and prevent the nervous ones from spending their time hidden under things (nervous kittens need to be petted and picked up as much as possible to socialize them to people).

This trio certainly didn’t require socialization. From day one, the three would break out into a raucous round of purring as soon as anyone entered the room. They all loved people right from the start, and they were also very photogenic, so I was able to get some good pictures.

Foster Kitten Zack

Max, Zack, and Roxie were large, robust kittens. With her fluffy coat and elaborate ear fur, Roxie looked like she had some Maine Coon in her lineage. Max and Zack were tabbies, ginger and gray respectively.

Roxie Poses on a Drum

In addition to evicting the parasites, there was an issue that we had to deal with before giving this group a run of the house. Max was not a fan of the litter box, instead using the bathtub as his dumping ground. This is a common problem among fastidious cats; the bathtub is a nice clean space, so it’s preferred to the litter box, which is not so pristine.

Max Scratches a Chair

There are two things that can be done to stop bathtub soiling: keep the litter well scooped and leave half a centimeter of water in the tub at all times. This small amount of water was not enough to drown Max or even soak him and give him a chill; it was just enough to wet his paws with cold water, which made the tub intolerable. Max quickly reverted to using his litter box appropriately, and we were then able to give the kittens a full run of the house.

Like most other batches of kittens we’ve fostered, this group loved our resident cat Freya, a little too much at times. She washed the kittens and did her usual mother routines with them, but they regularly swarmed her, demanding so much attention that she took to climbing the screen door to get away from them.

Roxie Relaxes in the Feline “Meatloaf” Pose

We didn’t have the trio for long before we received a phone call asking if we could participate in a kitten shuffle. The other half of the trio’s litter had gone to a different foster home and two of them had been adopted, leaving the third alone. The Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association (VOKRA) requested that we bring the trio to the other foster home to keep their solo sibling company and take on three new kittens in need of a temporary placement.

We dropped Max, Zack, and Roxie off with the other foster mom and their gray tabby sibling, who looked very much like Zack, and then headed over to VOKRA headquarters to collect our new charges.

For more foster kitten profiles, see the main Foster Kitten Photo Diary page. Visit the main Cats page for information about cat psychology, behavior, communication, training, feeding, and pregnant cat and kitten care.